Two days before he died, the author of 1984 left a will saying
that he wanted no biography written. Like most novelists, he
wanted his work judged for and by itself. This is ironic, since
few novels reflect the author's progress through life-and the
stormy political climate of his times-as clearly as George
Orwell's 1984. Most Orwell scholars see the life as a logical
"road to 1984." Knowing about Orwell's life, therefore, will
help you know the novel.

Orwell began life with the name Eric Blair. He was born in
India in 1903, the son of what he called a "lower-upper-middle
class" family. For the author, this was an important distinction.
The term meant that he came from the same social background
as the landed gentry but was set apart by the fact that his family
had very little money. His father worked for the British
government in India, where he could live well on less money.
Like most British officials, he sent the family back to England
to spare them the hardships of the heat and of the monsoon
season.

Growing up in Henley-on-Thames, west of London, Eric knew
by the time he was four or five that he wanted to be a writer.
Like his character Winston Smith in 1984, he thought of
himself as an outsider and a rebel. He told one childhood
friend: "You are noticed more if you are standing on your head
than if you are right side up."

At eight, he was packed off to boarding school at St. Cyprian's,
where he was more of an outsider than ever, as a lone
scholarship student among wealthy children. The schoolmaster
and his wife used kicks and caresses to keep the boys in line.
This was Eric's first taste of dictatorship, of being helpless
under the rule of an absolute power. Orwell transfers these
feelings to Winston, who in 1984 finds himself trapped in a
harsh totalitarian system.

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In an essay called "Such, Such were the Days," Orwell writes
about being beaten for wetting his bed. The masters were quick
to point out, whenever he got into trouble, that he was a
"charity" student. They found him difficult and unresponsive.
Like most lonely children, Eric consoled himself by making up
stories in his head, and holding imaginary conversations with
himself.

Later Orwell wrote that during his first twenty-five years he
was writing, and living, a continuing story in his head. He
began as a Robin Hood-like figure, starring in imaginary
adventures. Later he became the careful observer, trying to
describe what was going on around him as accurately as
possible. This seems very like Winston in 1984- a man who
commits crimes in his head while outwardly obeying Party
orders. At Eton, a prestigious public school (equivalent to U.S.
private or prep schools), Blair wrote some verse and worked on
school magazines. Once again a scholarship student, he
remained an outsider. In the years immediately following
World War I, he was part of the antinomian movement at Eton,
committed to overturning current standards and belief.
Although he was against religion, Blair was confirmed in the
Anglican Church, or Church of England, along with the rest of
his classmates. Later he would be married and buried in
Anglican ceremonies.

When his classmates went on to Oxford or Cambridge, Eric
was faced with a decision. He could not afford to go to a
university and his grades kept him from winning any more
scholarships. He may have been sick of studying. And so he
decided to join the Indian Imperial Police, a British force
assigned to keep order in British dependencies. This pleased
his father, who had rejoined the family in England. With the
blessings of the family, Eric went out to Burma for a five-year
hitch.

Later he wrote of this experience, "In Moulmein, in Lower
Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people...." Life must
have been difficult for an aspiring writer, who was employed to
keep order in a foreign country in the name of the British
empire. Eric hated the police and everything they stood for; he
often hated the people he was supposed to help, and he hated
the things he was called upon to do in the name of his country.
He felt isolated, lonely and deserted. You'll see how he uses
this sense of guilt and isolation in portraying Winston Smith,
who feels guilty about working for the ruling Party.